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Jackets Ready For Vaunted Penguins

Posted Apr 13, 2014
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

The Blue Jackets' first playoff berth -- has it really been five years? -- earned them a first-round matchup against the vaunted Detroit Red Wings. It was over qiuckly, thanks to a four-game sweep by the Wings that lasted only eight days. It has been known locally as the Glory Year.

The Jackets are back in the Stanley Cup playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, earning a first-round matchup with the vaunted Pittsburgh Penguins beginning later this week in CONSOL Energy Center. The dates and times will be announced later today by the NHL.

"I'm just excited for the opportunity to play in the playoffs," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "It's something you have to earn, and our players went out and earned it this season. Now we have an opportunity to play, to me, one of the premiere teams in the league, a team that has talented players who know how to win and they're well coached. Everything about the organization.

"We get to go into their building. We're 0-5 against them and that's probably going to be discussed. But a lot of those games were pretty good hockey games. If we get a goal here or there, maybe we're 2-3 or 1-4, or whatever."

That's a startling number: the Blue Jackets were 0-5 vs. the Penguins this season.

Here's a more startling number: the Jackets held the lead in those five games for exactly 56 seconds. On Dec. 29 in Nationwide Arena, Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky scored at 3:59 of the first period. At 4:55, Pittsburgh's James Neal scored to make it 1-1.

The Penguins have led or been tied for 299 minutes, 4 seconds of the 300-minute series.

"It kind of makes me more excited to get a win against them," Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen said. "It would be cool if we could go into their building and find a way to grease those two wins. By no means is it going to be easy. We'll have to take every single shift and play every single second in that building to find a way to win."

Another interesting way to view the Blue Jackets - Penguins series this season.

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets' best hope in these playoffs, played only 13 minutes against the Penguins this season. He stopped only 10 of 13 shots and was pulled from the first meeting early in the second period.

Curtis McElhinney played the rest of that game and started the next four because Bobrovsky was out with a groin injury and the flu when the Penguins appeared on the Blue Jackets' scheduled.

Bobrovsky is 5-4-1, with a 3.05 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in his career vs. Pittsburgh.

On the flip side, Penguins goaltender Marc- Andre Fleury is the great concern in Steeltown heading into these playoffs. Fleury fell apart last spring and eventually lost his starting spot. He let in a brutal goal on Saturday vs. Philadelphia in an overtime loss. The New York Islanders put a pretty good scare into the Penguins in the first-round last spring, eventually losing in six games.

In fairness to Fleury, he's shown no sign of weakness against the Blue Jackets. In his career vs. Columbus, he's 6-1-1, with a 2.18 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

The Blue Jackets are horribly banged up heading into these playoffs.

Right wing Nathan Horton won't play in the series following abdominal surgery. Right wing R.J. Umberger, a Pittsburgh native, won't be ready at the start and could miss the entire series with an upper body injury. Left wing Nick Foligno is skating today to test his wonky knee, but he might miss the first couple games, too.

"I could careless who we play in the playoffs," Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski said. "It's going to happen sooner or later with good teams. I wish we had a healthy team right now. We don't. But guys are doing a great job stepping up and playing hard, so just keep going."

Here's a thumbnail look at the series:

SERIES CAPSULE

NOV. 1, at Pittsburgh: The only real rout of the season series. The Penguins scored twice in a span of 1:51 early in the second period to take a 3-0 lead and sent Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to the bench. He made only 10 saves on 13 shots. The Jackets took 39 shots on goal – 16 in the first period – but goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was brilliant, with 37 saves. PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 2

NOV. 2, at Columbus: The Blue Jackets managed just 19 shots on goal and Penguins rookie goaltender Jeff Zatkoff earned his first NHL shutout. Still it was a 1-0 game until early Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz scored 47 seconds into the third. The only cheer of the night was the NHL’s first-intermission announcement that the 2015 All-Star Game would be played in Nationwide Arena. PENGUINS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0

DEC. 9, at Pittsburgh: Goals by Pittsburgh’s two superstars – Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby – staked the Penguins to a 2-0 lead midway through the third period. The Blue Jackets spoiled Fleury’s shutout attempt in the final minute when Matt Calvert scored. Bobrovsky missed the game with a groin injury. PENGUINS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1

DEC. 29, at Columbus: James Neal had three goals and two assists, playing a part in all of the Penguins’ goals. Still, it took two goals midway through the third period – Crosby, then Chris Kunitz two minutes later – for the Penguins to pull away from a 2-2 tie. “We cracked first,” Jackets coach Todd Richards said. Again, McElhinney started for a hobbled Bobrovsky. PENGUINS 5, BLUE JACKETS 3

MARCH 28, at Columbus: The tightest game of the series was scoreless for more than 50 minutes before the Penguins scored two goals only 47 seconds apart by Kunitz and Beau Bennett. Calvert scored with three minutes to play, and the Jackets outshot Pittsburgh 36-31, but they couldn’t get the equalizer. McElhinney got the start because Bobrovsky was stricken with the flu. PENGUINS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1

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